The Complex Evolution of Earth’s Atmosphere into a Breathable Environment
The Great Oxygenation Event, which occurred around 2.4 billion years ago, was one of the biggest transformations of our planet. Before it, there was practically no oxygen in the atmosphere; after, there was. Conventionally, the rise of oxygen is seen as life triumphantly terraforming a passive planet. But we’re learning now that Earth was an
Researchers Develop Edible Battery for Safe and Sustainable Energy Storage
Can you tell me how many batteries you use in a year? A report from the University of Illinois reveals that Americans buy about 3 billion dry-cell batteries annually, which means that an average American ends up using nearly 10 batteries a year. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise given that almost everything
Chinese Mars Rover Captures Images of Water-Shaped Crusts on Red Planet
Most of Mars appears to be an endless expanse of alien desert, without a river or lake in sight. However, liquid water definitely existed in the planet’s distant past. A new paper has also suggested that it's also possible small quantities of water still might exist in places that otherwise appear barren. Before China’s Zhurong
Scientists Discover Additional Moons with Oceans in the Solar System
In recent decades, NASA has sent large spacecraft—Galileo and Cassini, respectively—to fly around Jupiter and Saturn to explore the dozens of moons that exist in those planetary systems. The spacecraft investigated all manner of intriguing moons, from little radiation-saturated hellholes to a world covered in volcanoes. But the most consistently interesting discovery made by these
Giraffes Capable of Processing Statistics Despite Small Brain Size
Reasoning about probabilities is something humans can't always manage especially well, but it's clearly a skill we're capable of. In the wider world of animals, however, there are very few species we can say are able to make choices based on probabilities. So far, the only animals that have demonstrated the ability to make choices
US Gulf States Face $30 Billion Liability from Inactive, Uncapped Oil and Gas Wells
Oil and gas producers in the US are required by law to seal and cap their wells once they're finished producing. But a new survey of wells along the Gulf of Mexico coast indicates that there are 14,000 wells that aren't producing, are unlikely to be brought back into service, and are uncapped. The bad
Wildfire Smoke from Australia Drives Three-Year “Super La Niña” Event
The aerosol fallout from wildfires that burned across more than 70,000 square miles of Australia in 2019 and 2020 was so persistent and widespread that it brightened a vast area of clouds above the subtropical Pacific Ocean. Beneath those clouds, the ocean surface and the atmosphere cooled, shifting a key tropical rainfall belt northward and
CDC Director Walensky Announces Resignation
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky announced that she'd be stepping down from her position at the end of June. The announcement came the same day that the World Health Organization announced that COVID no longer constituted an emergency, and Walensky's resignation letter made reference to that: “The end
Communication during lucid dreams could be facilitated by the use of “sleep language”
Sleep is a semiconscious state, but there are neurons firing in the brain even when all seems quiet. Now brain activity during the deepest sleep phase could make it possible for people to communicate with the waking world during lucid dreaming. If someone is lucid dreaming, they are aware they are dreaming and able to
The Universe’s expansion can be estimated through a gravitational lens, providing a third option
Anyone who has ever measured something twice, like the width of a doorway, and gotten two different answers knows how annoying it can be. Now imagine you're a physicist, and what you're measuring tells us something fundamental about the Universe. There are a number of examples like this—we can't seem to get measurements to agree
